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GE Energy has signed a US$3.7 million contract with China National Electric Equipment Corporation (CNEEC) to supply control and protection systems for the largest heavy-oil-fired super-critical power plant in Azerbaijan, owned by Azerenerji Joint Stock Company. The new plant control system will automatically control all processes in the power plant, using a network to interconnect sensors, controllers, operator terminals and actuators.
The existing Azerenerji super-critical plant will be retrofitted and upgraded by Chinese power engineering firms in an effort to help the growing economy. The project scope includes increasing the power output of eight LMZ K-300 steam turbines from 300 megawatts to 330 megawatts each.
Under the scope of the contract, GE Energy will supply its proven OC 4000™ plant automation systems to control the entire power station, including digital hydraulic controls and emergency trip systems for the steam turbines, as well as a distributed control system for control, monitoring and protection of all of the plant's sub-systems. The GE OC 4000 systems will process more than 32,000 field data signals across the installation and will be delivered and commissioned beginning in the third quarter of 2008 through mid-2010.
Compared to the conventional, sub-boiler design, super-critical boilers provide higher efficiency, lower CO2 emissions and improved operational flexibility to power plant operators.
"More and more utilities around the world are choosing super-critical boiler technology for their power plants," said Brian Palmer, vice president - Optimization and Control, GE Energy. We are pleased that CNEEC and Azerenerji have chosen GE's control technology for these advanced, efficient plant designs.
Azerbaijan is an oil and gas rich country with a population of nine million, located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea. In the first quarter of 2007, Azerbaijan's gross domestic product grew 41.7 percent. Oil is the most prominent product of Azerbaijan's economy, with cotton, natural gas and agriculture products contributing vastly to its economic growth sustained over the last five consecutive years. More than $60 billion was invested into the country's oil by major international oil companies in the Azerbaijan International Operating Company consortium, operated by BP plc.
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